“The Wisdom and Vice of Speech”
Reynard the Fox is a series of beast epics date from around the 12th century. It tells stories centered around the cunning trickster Reynard. The story begins with animals accusing Reynard in court in front of the lion king. Then Reynard used tricks and lies and deceived those who were sent for him, as well as the king and the queen. A large part of the book is the made up of descriptions from both sides on matters of wrongdoing that others accused Reynard of. Throughout the book, the animals were playing play a hypocritical game of speech. All of the characters adopt similar strategies to increase the solidity of their stories. They omitted the truth and betray their moral principles in order to be in a favorable position. Reynard the Fox is smarter than also quoted the power of God or the society, suspected others to make them commit, knew the tactics of flattering, and distorted the truth to make him sound like a genuine teacher instead of initiator of the scheme. Therefore, the character Reynard sounds virtuous and just through his own narratives. However, there is no absolute judgment in this book. Everyone is lying on a certain level, and no court or…show more content… Similarly, the translator James Simpson in the introduction also argues that the story “teach[es] readers how to survive, or at least hot not to fall victim, in the dog-eat-dog world of political, legal, and mercantile competition” (p.23). I would argue that the story teaches us not only how to survive, but also how to prosper and manipulate others using eloquent and tactical speech. It further indicates that we cannot distinguish the truths from the lies because of the existence of these techniques of speech, and how they are driven by human desires and